Tom Sizemore was not a star who alone drew the masses to the cinema. Nevertheless, as an essential part of the cast, he enriched a breathtaking number of film classics. His work with directors such as Oliver Stone, Michael Mann, Kathryn Bigelow and Steven Spielberg transformed him into one the Faces of 1990s American Cinema. The actor died on Friday of complications from a stroke, the New York Times reports.
Sizemore’s filmography is full of unforgettable films
Born in Detroit in 1961, Sizemore made his film debut in 1989 and appeared in Stone’s Born the Fourth of July that same year. As a result, he made himself known as Actors of tough guys a name that sometimes hid a soft core. He played detectives in Tony Scott’s cult film True Romance and Stone’s media satire Natural Born Killers, stood on the other side of the law as a robber in Michael Mann’s Heat and a killer in Kathryn Bigelow’s sci-fi classic Strange Days. The lines between good and evil were often blurred in his characters, regardless of whether he was playing a lawman or not.
Paramount
Tom Sizemore in Saving Private Ryan
In Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, Sizemore took over in 1998 one of his biggest roles. Here, too, he was overshadowed by the really big star Tom Hanks, but as the robust Mike Horvarth, friend and number 1 of Hanks Captain, Sizemore played his way into the hearts of the audience.
He had the ability to draw attention to himself with small or medium-sized appearances without overpowering himself. Gangster and war films, professionals and brutalists were therefore the actor’s métier, who had some of his impressive performances in Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead, Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down and Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor.
Real life soon overshadowed Sizemore’s film work
At the turn of the millennium, however, the Descent of Tom Sizemore. An addiction has led him into multiple troubles with the law and in front of the cameras of reality shows like Celebrity Rehab with Dr. drew In 2003 he was found guilty of domestic violence, an allegation repeated in 2017 by another former partner. For this he was sentenced to 36 months probation.
In recent years, Sizemore has therefore mainly been seen in DTV films. His last major role came in 2017 in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return.
On February 18th of this year, Tom Sizemore suffered a stroke as a result of a cerebral aneurysm. On February 27, it became known from Sizemore’s environment that the doctors had given up hope of rescue. He was 61 years old.